Indian Women Told How to Behave, Again

The Delhi police chief’s recent remark on women and safety was the latest in a long line of admonitions by Indian officials.

Punit Paranjpe/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

This is not the first time that Indian officials have cautioned Indian women on how they should behave.

“You have to take some basic precaution. You can’t travel at two o’ clock in the night and say Delhi was not safe… take some brother, driver… Those reasonable precautions are expected to be taken by all families, all citizens of Delhi,” said Delhi Police Commissioner B.K. Gupta on Saturday.

Mr. Gupta, who was speaking at a session organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ladies Organization on Saturday, upset many with his comments.

This is not the first time that people in power have seen it as their moral responsibility to tell women what they should do, how they should behave and what they should wear – diverting blame from the real culprits of violence against women.

Here’s a look at other surprising comments Indian officials—both male and female—have made with regard to women and sexual violence in recent years, as well as an overseas echo.

1. Champa Das Gupta, 2006. “Rape incidents are not a problem in a tribal society,’’ said Champa Das Gupta, who was then chairwoman of the State Commission for Women in the northeastern state of Tripura, in March 2006. Her sweeping declaration fuelled protests in the state where at least four tribal girls had been raped in recent weeks.

2. Delhi Police, 2007. After a spate of assaults on students from the Northeast who had come to the capital to attend university, the Delhi Police printed a booklet called “Security Tips for Northeast Students/Visitors in Delhi.” The book, among other things advised people from the northeast, where the buttoned-up, scarf-draped salwar-kameez of northern India is not a common sight, how to dress.

“Revealing dress be avoided. Avoid lonely road/bylane when dressed scantily. Dress according to sensitivity of the local populace,” it said.

3. Sheila Dikshit, 2008. Soumya Viswanathan, a journalist with the Headlines Today news channel, was shot dead while driving home from work. The most disquieting thing about this thing for Delhi’s chief minister was that it happened at around 3 a.m. “One should not be adventurous,” remarked Ms. Dikshit.

Later on, Ms. Dikshit tried to clarify her remarks by adding that her remark was meant for the boys, too. “I used the phrase adventurous in two ways that travelling at three in the morning is not a safe thing for anybody to do and above all I think even for boys, travelling after 9 in the evening,” she said, according to the Times of India.

4. Mulayam Singh Yadav, 2010. Highlighting his reason for opposing the Women’s Reservation bill, which would legislate a 33 % quota for women in Parliament and in state legislative bodies, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav made a comment in March last year that angered people in Parliament and outside of it.

“The youth would whistle when the wives and daughters of industrialists and officers will be elected as MPs. Believe me, what I am saying (will) happen very soon if we don’t oppose the Bill and stop the Congress,” he said.

With a statement like this coming from a veteran politician, it appears that even India’s Parliament, which is considered to be one of the safest places in the country, is not a good place to be a woman. Presently, about 11% of India’s Parliament is comprised of women. Maybe that’s a reason they should reserve seats for women—isn’t there safety in numbers?

5. Toronto Police, 2011. Of course, admonitions to women aren’t the province only of Indian officials. In January this year a police constable in Toronto remarked that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized” during a safety workshop for women.

The constable’s comment suggesting that a woman’s attire could provoke a sexual assault led to widespread protests in many countries, including an upcoming demonstration in India.

Readers, what are your views on these remarks? Let us know in the Comment section.

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